Starting from SCRAP
Written by Writer on Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Starting from SCRAP
There’s no such thing as waste, says the Scrap Lab, just alternative raw material waiting to be born again
JAMES WHITE
What goes on inside a laboratory that studies “scrap”? “Actually, we invented the name ‘Scrap Lab’ with the intention of raising a few eyebrows,” said Asst Pro Dr Singh Intrachooto, one of Scrap Lab’s founders and head of the Building Innovation and Technology Department, Faculty of Architecture, Kasetsart University.
“People don’t pay much attention to scrap and junk, so we thought about starting something that could function like a laboratory,” he explained. “It wouldn’t need to be a lab in a scientific sense, but it’s a space where detailed studies and explorations could take place. Therefore, the name Scrap Lab was meant to be a little provocative.”
Dr Singh, who has a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is also leading the university’s Building Innovation and Technology Programme. His research revolves around sustainable design concepts and he is considered a pioneer of ecological design in Thailand.
From November 4-11, designs from the Scrap Lab initiative will be on display to the public at the Atrium, in Siam Center. This exhibition will display innovative furniture, prototypes and building materials from byproducts that were gathered from several factories across Thailand.
The place where Scrap Lab originates is the Bang Khen campus of Kasetsart University. In addition to Dr Singh, who is also known for his eco-design company Osisu, the team is also led by two visiting lecturers - designer Florian Gypser and architect Luke Yeung.
In addition to coordinating Scrap Lab, Gypser has conducted comprehensive research in contemporary furniture design. He completed his studies at the University of Applied Art in Vienna under the guidance of architects Hans Hollein and Zaha Hadid.
For the past five years, architect Luke Yeung has been working in Thailand with producers of building materials to research new techniques and develop projects at the office of Architect Kidd. He completed his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and McGill University.
Scrap Lab began its activities in November last year, when it received funding from Kasetsart University’s Business Incubation Center. Since then, the project has organised workshops that have brought university students, researchers and companies together with the goal of inventing new design prototypes that can be manufactured commercially.
The past few years in Thailand, there has undoubtedly been an increased awareness of environmental issues in general.
“We have arrived at the stage where there is more demand from society at large to embrace sustainable concepts,”said Dr Singh. “Now, people are starting to ask what should be the next step? We need to build on this momentum and develop new strategies to address specific environmental needs.”
What this means is establishing environmental programmes that address how the regional economy and industries operate. In Thailand, much of the economic output is generated by medium and small-sized manufacturers that are responsible for making a large variety of products.
“What we have discovered is that some of the owners and managers are very aware of environmental issues and that they want to make a difference,” said Luke Yeung. “But when it comes to their own factories, they are not sure what exactly they can do to achieve this. Many of these companies have contacted us for help. In the process, we have gathered together a lot of byproducts and information. Scrap Lab was invented to make use of this.”
The factory is the source where goods are produced, yet for the average consumer, very little is known about what goes on behind its walls. The production facilities are well hidden from view, and this results in a lack of information about the process of production and the waste that results from it. For Florian Gypser, however, factory waste is a source of inspiration.
“There’s a whole new world waiting to be discovered and explored,” he enthused. “Inside these factories and production processes there is an unappreciated world that has creative and commercial value.”
During the first stage of the Scrap Lab project, teams of students and researchers worked with a particular factory to collect data on the properties of raw materials, production processes and the resulting waste products. Then the waste was collected and prepared as renewed raw material. In the first year, the Scrap Lab team worked with factories generating byproducts such as plastic foam, polyester fabrics, corrugated paper, rubber hosing and steel cutoffs.
After collecting these alternative raw materials, new goods can be produced in the final stage of the project, either by the same factory or at another location. For the Scrap Lab exhibition at Siam Center, the products on display are mostly furniture and household goods such as lighting designs. While producing new products may seem to be antithetical to an environmental initiative such as Scrap Lab, the team believes the prototypes are important to prove the point that useful products can evolve from this process.
“Many of the manufacturers that have contributed their waste to Scrap Lab are interested and curious to see what kind of product designs we will make from all that scrap,” said Gypser.
There was another reason for creating Scrap Lab furniture: to introduce a new creative outlet for Kasetsart University students. During the workshops, they had the opportunity to apply and develop design and creative skills. Student teams focussed on emphasising the unique characteristics of scrap materials, using knowledge gained from their understanding of each material during the stages of processing from its raw to final state. They then worked with it, using the techniques used in innovative design.
”At first it was difficult for some of the students to imagine how they could design something interesting from the scrap,” said Dr Singh. ”But after a while, everyone became able to visualise the potential of scrap as material for new designs. I think that the workshop is useful not only for scrap materials, but also for encouraging students and designers to be more resourceful in their other projects.”
One of the Scrap Lab projects chosen for the exhibition is a dramatic lighting fixture made entirely from chopsticks. Choke Roongsangpet, a graduate student in the Master in Building Innovation and Technology (MBIT) programme, sourced disposable wooden chopsticks from restaurants around Bangkok to be used as material for his lighting designs.
”I chose to work on disposable chopsticks as they are a form of organic waste. I see this as a way of conserving the environment by making use of what has already been extracted, instead of looking for new resources,” Choke explained.
”Disposable chopsticks are a symbol of our throwaway culture and a cause of deforestation,” said Dr Pattaranan Takkanon, an adviser to the students. ”It’s easy for people to use a pair of disposable chopsticks, but if you think about how many millions are using them every day, you realise how much waste is created, and the level of destruction necessary for this small convenience.”
Dr Pattaranan is a lecturer in the Building Technology Division of the Faculty of Architecture at Kasetsart University. She graduated from Chulalongkorn University before completing her PhD studies at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her areas of expertise are design for tropical environment, building material and enclosure, as well as computer simulation for performance-based design.
Another furniture design that will be on display is a chair and stool made from rubber hose cutoffs. Pongwut Aramsri, another student in the MBIT graduate programme, developed the design.
”We selected this design for its proportion and design detailing,” said Gypser. ”It refuses to allow environmental concerns to compromise other design criteria such as comfort and aesthetics. This is a chair design that can easily fit into people’s homes and everyday lifestyles.”
The Scrap Lab team hopes the exhibition will make an impression on the public and encourage consumers to reconsider the value of scrap materials. Visitors will even have a chance to create their own scrap products. During the exhibition, workshops will be organised by the Scrap Lab team at which participants will have a chance to work with chopsticks and ”paint” made from lipstick and other cosmetics products, some of which will be donated by Siam Centre retail shops.
All the materials for the exhibition will be made from factory scrap. NCR-Rubber, a company that manufactures rubber hose products, is supplying additional cutoffs for the Scrap Lab display. Kasetsart student Tirawit Gimmani coordinated the exhibit design and, along with factory owner Amphon Kiattitheerachai, developed a new construction detail that integrated the hose with a steel support frame. The resulting design is another Scrap Lab product, but on a building scale much larger than the furniture on display.
”Building materials and the construction industry are slow to respond to environmental concerns and embrace change,” said Luke Yeung. ”If this exhibition is successful, there may be the potential for architecture to be the next step for Scrap Lab. I’m sure that the exhibition will encourage building designers, contractors and developers as well.”
The ”Scrap Lab Exhibition” at the Atrium 2, first floor of Siam Center, Rama I Road, from November 4-11. The chopstick and lipstick workshops will be held on Saturday and Sunday, November 8 and 9, at 1pm and 4pm respectively. Workshops are free of charge. For more information, please call 02-658-1000 ext 210-217 or visit www.scraplab.org.
Bangkok Post
Friday October 31, 2008
